Florida: Katherine Harris and the MZM quid pro quo

Paul Kiel writes at TPM Cafe: Last Friday, Mitchell Wade, the former president of the defense contractor MZM and one of the two who so impressively and repeatedly bribed Duke Cunningham, pled guilty. He admitted, among other things, that he illegally contributed to two Congressional campaigns. They've since been identified as Harris' and Rep. Virgil Goode's (R-VA).

Now, Wade told the government that neither Harris nor Goode knew that the contributions were illegal, i.e. that Wade reimbursed his employees and their spouses for the $2K they laid out to the campaigns.

But in both cases, Wade approached the Member of Congress after having delivered the contributions and asked if they wouldn't be so kind as to throw an appropriation his way. In Goode's case, that resulted in a $9M MZM facility in Goode's district.

Now it's coming out that Harris followed through too. And she's been lying, breaking promises, and doing her best to cover up her involvement with Wade.... -- The Daily Muck | TPMCafe

Comments

Harris might be forgiven for her current troubles, if she hadn’t already been down this road, and if she wasn’t an expert on campaign finance laws, and if she could come up with an alternate explanation for her actions besides, “I am a nasty Republican skeezer and I will do anything I can get away with. Now, beat it and let me get back to figuring out who to shake down next.”